3 cities, 15 towns in Albay back to MGCQ

By Mar S. Arguelles

The Albay Interagency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Disease (IATF) on July 15 announced that it has lifted the quarantine status of several cities and towns in Albay from General Community Quarantine (GCQ) to Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) status.

Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara issued on July 14 Executive Order No. 23 placing the 15 towns and three cities under MGCQ effective July 16 due to the apparent decrease of the Covid-19 cases in the province.

The order cited the Department of Health (DOH) Regional Case Bulletin on July 12 stating that the attack rate of Covid-19 in the province decreased by 57 percent and the recovery rate increased by 70 percent.

The towns and cities placed earlier under GCQ and now reverted to MGCQ are the cities of Legazpi and Tabaco and the towns of Tiwi, Malinao, Malilipot, Sto. Domingo, Bacacay, Manito, Daraga, Camalig, and Oas. These areas according to the Albay IATF have logged considerable spikes in Covid-19 cases in June.

The towns that remained under MGCQ are Rapu-Rapu, Jovellar, Guinobatan, Libon, Pioduran, and Polangui.

Meanwhile, Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal has lent recently to the DOH regional office the Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer that was procured by the city government.

Rosal in a simple turnover ceremony said the freezer could store and meet the required temperature of Pfizer and Sputnik V (Gamaleya) vaccines.

The freezer is said to provide temperature up to -99 degrees Celsius and store up to 140,000 vials of vaccines.

Ernie Vera, DOH regional director, said 2,400 doses of Sputnik V (Gamaleya) were delivered on July 13 in the Bicol region for pilot roll-out in Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) and Legazpi City.

He said there are no allocations of Pfizer vaccines yet for Bicol.